Abstract:

Tourism is a chain of sustainable experiences that make significant contributions to world peace among countries, and that creates sharing and cooperation between people. Ecotourism is a type of tourism that can be done in all seasons and that is respectful to nature, which includes ecology, environment, historical and cultural values. There is an increasing interest in ecotourism activities in Europe and Turkey. Within the scope of ecotourism activities, outdoor recreational activities have positive effects on people physically, mentally and spiritually. Although ecotourism activities are generally carried out in forest areas, they are located in mountains, lakes and streams, plains, plateaus, etc. It can also be done in open areas. It serves many purposes such as education, adventure, culture and gastronomy, entertainment and relaxation. Especially in today's cities, urban families, who are exposed to intense work tempo, stress and traffic, prefer to participate in ecotourism activities with their children. With this research, an inventory was created with the available data on family-child oriented ecotourism camp sites in Turkey and the opportunities offered by ecotourism camps and the distribution of camp sites in Turkey were determined. A total of 24 ecotourism camps focused on family-child participation were evaluated. Evaluations were made on the opportunities offered by ecotourism camps, the diversity of activities, the interaction of family and children, social gains, environmental awareness, nature awareness, self-identity, social, mental, physical and spiritual interaction of families and learning for children. It is recommended to increase the number of ecotourism camps and the opportunities they offer in order to increase the number of families with environmental awareness while strengthening family ties in the natural environment.